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There's an old dirt road just off Route 9
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Fades into the lake at the low water line
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Sometimes I wander down that road alone
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Remembering the town that I once called home
I grew up in the valley, every neighbor a friend
Until the modern world started creeping in
One day came the lawyers with cash in hand
They swore that our village would light up the land
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The dusky waters move cold and slow
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And ghosts of a village still wander below
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Homesteads of families and friends forevermore
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Haunting the valley below this sparkling shore
Surrounding the valley was a painted red line
Drawn by Company men, like marking a crime
A silent reminder that all inside it must go
Or be lost to the rising Dead River's flow
Some folks took the money, started grinding gears
While the rest of us held out for twenty-odd years
We watched our town like a photograph fade
As the Company came to take it all away
They tore down the church, the schoolhouse burned
They dug up the graves, the wheels of progress turned
They got Dutchie's Store and Haven's Pool Hall
When the dozers rolled it shattered us all
Chorus
Old May Savage stayed as long as she could
Her house on the hill towered over the flood
It rose up alone in the dark of night
Its face on the water in the cold moon light
I shake off the memories, on my lips a prayer
Thanks for the grace and the beauty down there
And while the porchlights glow all over the state
There's nothing but darkness under the lake
Chorus